Make It Memorable (and Edible?)
Posted by Amy on 13 Feb 2009 | Posted in: Holiday and Seasonal, Intermediate, The Mailbox
My experience shows that if you want students to really get excited about a subject or skill, use food whenever possible (being sensitive to any allergies, of course). Even frozen peas and toothpicks got my kids way into building angles and 3-D shapes.
When I first read the idea “Many Moons” on page 40 (The Mailbox Intermediate Feb/Mar), I just smiled from ear to ear. Kids use Oreo cookies to model the phases of the moon by scraping away different portions of the cream filling. Now, that’s my idea of a fun and memorable learning activity! How about you? Have you had any luck using food-related activities in your classroom?
|
|
| A transparency master of the moon’s phases is available on The Mailbox Companion® Web site. Sample it. |
15 Comments |
Subscribe
|
Email This
Hello,
I just came across this blog and had to post. I am the person who submitted this idea. I hope that it was helpful for teachers (and students) to reinforce the concept.
Does anyone have any ideas for a snack to make to reinforce the idea of recycling, reuse, reduce. replenish.
Dorothy,
We also try to incorporate foods with our themes. It seems that most of our recipes call for sweets (frosting, candies etc,. While the children enjoy making and eating them , I would like to do more healthy foods. We can NOT have peanut butter in our center or any nuts at all. I’d love some suggestions!
For St Patrick’s Day I fill an ice cube tray with water and add blue food coloring. Then, I make lemonade with the children (I add a few drops of yellow food coloring to the lemonade). I serve the lemonade in clear plastic cups and I give each child a blue ice cube and we see what happens to our lemonade. The children are always thrilled to see it turn green.
In response to Inelia’s comment on 2/18 about a book on the human body, does anyone know the title? Sounds like a great book & I would like to use with my preschoolers but so far, haven’t been able to come up with it thru Border’s or Barnes & Noble’s web site. Can anyone help?
At Christmas I have the students make peanut butter sandwiches in the shape of a reindeer. They must follow me giving the directions of cutting the bread diagonally, putting on the peanut butter, adding 2 raisin eyes, adding 2 small pretzels for antlers, and of course a 1/2 cherry for the nose at the bottom of the triangle. Serve on Christmas paper plates. They must then write the directions and have a friend or little buddy see if they wrote the directions correctly by doing exactly as the directions explain. Sharing is the best part!
For St. Patrick’s Day: Yukon Gold mashed potatoes (add a little yellow color if desired) served in a black bean-pot with a handle “pot of gold”. Green peas with carrot disks - “gold coins in the grass”, or a green salad with mandarin orange slices. Add a few drops of green food color to a cup of milk or if you are really up for some fun, let wee lads and lassies drip red, yellow, and blue color in their own milk to make a rainbow. Encourage them to name the colors they see. For some extra fun in my day care, I hid a green treat in each child’s shoe while they napped so they would find a treat from a leprechaun when they awoke. What happy memories for them and for me.
Amy..I forgot to mention that we made the human body out of Halloween candy that was in the shape of bones.
Amy there is a very neat pop-up book called “The Human Body” sold at Barnes and Nobles and it’s on sale too. It is a big red book with a skull cover; my class loves it, they remember all the body parts and their functions and they are 3 & 4 y.o. It is their favorite book. I hope this helps ! : )
When I teach the parts of the Earth I use a red hot for the core shoved into a marshmallow for the mantle and dip that into melted chocolate for the crust. Then we eat away. They don’t forget the parts.
First on the green eggs and ham snack/meal; try using a recipe for scrambled eggs with spinach in them for the green. There are recipes online. It’s more natural and healthy.
Our classrooms cook weekly; all recipes are healthy. The children get enough junk foods at home or in the community. We strive to teach our children about nutrition by following through on all activities. They are learning healthy choices and cooking activities encourage the children to try new things. It was a hard transition for the teachers to become healthy classroom cooks. Now that it’s been two years, I have no complaints and the recipes they are making are amazing.
It is our social responsibility to try to help end the child obesity epidemic. It is our responsibility to be the role model and do what we can do. The children are with us about 50 hours every week and they are trying new things and healthy cooking is becoming a habit, not an exception. The families are excited to hear what new food their child/ren tried and they have even requested some of the recipes. We have such an influence on the child’s development, we need to make sure we are a positive influence.
Several years ago- maybe 5- there was the cutest Dr. Suess Cat in the Hat snack to make. It was not the one with red lifesavers and white frosting but something flat on a cracker I think. Does any one have a clue what I mean? Help please!
In my PreK class, we always make (and eat) green eggs and ham when we are learning about Dr. Seuss. We serve biscuits and green milk with it. It’s the same reaction every year as they pour in the ingredients, add the green food coloring and mix it up: “I’m not eating that!!”. While I read the story, they smell the eggs cooking in the electric skillet. After one brave child tries a bite, they all dig in and there is never a bit left! I’ve enjoyed doing this in early spring for almost 30 years!
Does anyone have any good lessons for teaching human body to second grade?
that is adorable and so hands on!